Kia ora e te whānau

During difficult times, it’s easy to feel a little overwhelmed or drained by life. Negative feelings and thoughts can creep in, which can make it difficult to see the positives, and attracts us to more negativity. The simple concept of gratitude can help pull us out of this downward spiral. Gratitude is the appreciation of the valuable and meaningful things in our lives.

As one of the world’s leading experts in gratitude, Robert Emmons, explains, “It’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”

He also points out that there is another element to being grateful, “We recognise that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”

The more grateful we feel for small, simple acts, experiences and interactions, the more satisfied we will be with life. Disappointment is the opposite of happiness and being grateful gives us more satisfaction in life. Luckily, gratefulness can be taught from a young age. One way to do this is on the way home from school instead of asking your child, “How was your day?” instead ask “what’s something funny that happened to you today, or something you found difficult but tried it anyway?” Then even if the day didn’t all go to plan and there were some bad experiences in there, this helps them to focus on the good.

And while celebrating the little things doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate the big achievements, “We’re starting to realise that a successful individual isn’t necessarily someone who things come easy to.” “Those who grow up understanding that failure and mistakes are okay, may be more likely to learn from them, rather than be defeated by them.” Embracing failure as part of learning is just one way we can restructure our values for the better, learning to appreciate the process, and raising more successful, resilient and happy children in the process.

This week I am grateful for our generous parents on the PTFA who tirelessly work towards projects that benefit our students and I hope many of you can join us next week for our Quiz night, at the Croydon Lodge on Friday night starting at 6.30pm, to raise money towards the refurbishment of the Susan Horrell tennis courts.

I am also grateful for our awesome, happy and positive children who came along to our Superhero Social last night and had a great time, and to the staff and students who gave up their time to help.

Charity Fulfils the Law